Thanks for reading minna-san~! It would be nice to hear what you thought though. :D So special thanks to those who mustered a bit more of their time to review. ;)
I'll start her Sakuragi's 'lovesickness' in the next chapter. Can you guess who the unfortunate guy is? lol
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
…
CHAPTER 4: Revelations
GYMNASIUM
Boink Boink Boink
An old man with a huge bouncing and onomatopoeia-able beer belly approached the gymnasium from the internal door. Sadly, Rukawa's fangirls moved there, annoyed by the Sakuragi gang on the other door. They were squealing and the old man could not get in. He tried his best—only to roll like a ball every time he was accidentally pushed back.
Eventually, he succeeded and the older players greeted him energetically.
"GOOD AFTERNOON, COACH!"
The old man laughed like a santa, and looked around. He could see the unfamiliar faces were quite surprised at his title. Honestly, he would be too. And he laughed (again) at the thought. He focused on his team, though, and ignored the gapes of spectators directed at him.
Staaaaaaaaare
Hanamichi (who literally just arrived) was one of those spectators, but more accurately... she was looking at his huge collection of flab. She seriously wanted to make it bounce, much like how children played with jellies. And the image made her scoff and mused why he suddenly appeared.
"He probably heard about the free sushi."
"Pfft—" Nozomi cackled. "HAAHA—you're right."
"Look at who's talking." Noma added patting the flap of skin in his neck, and Hanamichi joined in playing with his tummy.
"HAHAHAHA." She laughed—rather noisily, and continued insulting her friend like they usually did with each other. "Darn. I can't imagine how it would look like when you're 60."
"Yohoho." The coach ignored all the noise and Akagi's growing vein. "How was practice?"
Akagi let out a deep breath, ignorethemignorethemignorethem. "We're doing great, coach." He managed to say, and the coach nodded in approval. Akagi watched the coach's movement as he passed by and headed for his chair. However, he stopped a few steps in, eyeglasses shimmering.
"I just scheduled a practice game with Ryonan."
Silence
A few people there wondered why everyone else was so tense, until a few players started whispering how much chance they had... in gaining at least half the opponent's score. Hanamichi almost scoffed, until someone mentioned Ryonan was one of the top 4 teams.
Hanamichi shrugged. Apparently the opponent team was strong. She watched Gorilla clap his hand and yelled that the practice game was about to start.
'Whatever.' She mused. Basketball had nothing to do with her anymore. A slight thump on her chest appeared (not that she'd admit that) and, unconsciously, she opened her right hand... and closed it again.
Hmph
They said she was lucky she could still use it every day. Sure, she can. Just not on the thing she loved most.
Loved,she repeated. Past tense.
Someone patted her back and pulled her back slightly, so they were a little far from everyone else. It was Yohei, and thankfully everyone was busy watching the game between the brewing freshmen and seniors so no one noticed.
"You alright?" he asked, as always.
"Of course." was all she replied. They stayed there for a while... until some of their friends noticed, so they walked back to watch the game.
It was then a showdown between the high-level Gori and SUPER-baka-Kitsune (And the super being the adjective for the 'Baka' of course), with Kawamura also showing off here and there. He was pretty meek, but when the ball got passed to him—he got fired up and basically only Akagi could hold him off.
She closed her eyes at the great game the two teams were having, but the noise all the dribbling and the enthusiastic cheers did not help. Soon, she felt a familiar reassuring hand on hers. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at the waxed floor, and started speaking without looking, as she knew who it was.
"What about you? You're a good player yourself, Yohei." She whispered, ensuring no one heard. "You don't have anything holding you back."
Yohei smiled. "N'aw. I just found basketball fun because you and your dad always played with me."
"That's limiting."
"Not like you to say that." She didn't say anything. "You don't have to shun it away completely. You can still play."
But she only frowned and shook her head, as if Yohei was more of an idiot than he led on. "Playing lightly wouldn't be enough."
"So, for you... it's either you run away now or jump to the courts?"
She shrugged in response.
Yohei sighed..., but before he could utter anything else he felt a staggering stare. It was practically bordering a glare, and being a gangster he quickly upped his guard. Hanamichi was too busy in her world of denial to notice though. Yohei only turned his head to where it emanated from. He didn't expect for it to be him though.
It was Rukawa. The aforementioned genius freshman had slowed his pace and for that split second he actually stared and showed interest at them. It was too abrupt that nobody else noticed.
Yohei started pondering. He felt an odd atmosphere between Hanamichi and Rukawa since a while back, but decided not to pry. Now, there was more proof, he decided to do something. Sure, he was attracted to Hanamichi—more than as a friend—but he would never make a move. So this issue with those two was a matter of (mostly) amusement.
But before he could formulate any sort of plans, he realized that the trio was looking at them suspiciously. He actually forgot about them, and they were wearing that 'we will find out eventually and tease you to death' faces. Hanamichi sighed in annoyance and head-butted the three to shut up before proceeding to walk away.
"Ara?" Mito uttered watching her back. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere that's not here."
"Ha?"
"Oi, oi." Nozomi butted in when he noticed. "What about free sushi?"
"I'm going to catch the fishes myself." She snapped. No, she had never fished before nor had the patience to. She'll probably make a spear and jump to the middle of the sea or something.
Really, anything but there.
"You'll probably get back to Chiba." Mito snickered jokingly. Hanamichi probably had the worst sense of direction in the region. So he gestured to come with her.
"Alone."
He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
Hanamichi frowned, and Mito defensively raised his hand as if she had a lethal gun. "Okay, okay.
"But you could at least finish the game." He added in a rather loud tone of voice that caught Haruko and her friend's attention. Maybe a few of the players, too. Hanamichi swore she was going to punch Yohei later.
But she forgot about it (punching Yohei, at least for a while) the moment Haruko ran to her. She looked at the brunette nervously.
"Y-You're going, Sakuragi-chan?"
"..."
"Sakuragi-chan?"
"...yeah." And she turned around again, mostly to keep herself from changing her mind. She rarely did change her mind, but Haruko was too cute to refuse. And yet, she told herself, even if it was Haruko… basketball would still be basketball.
So, she took a brave(?) step away from the courts.
"Is it… okay if I ask something first?" Haruko asked meekly, and she paused her step. She nodded, and her eyes jerked when Haruko gulped in nervousness.
"Why do you hate basketball?"
And she stiffened. That question was loud enough that she unconsciously looked at the courts. The first person she saw was Rukawa. His eyes were even wider than that time at his house, and she turned back to Haruko immediately. They shouldn't see that super-baka-kitsune's weird reaction. They're bound to find out she used to play basketball.
"Ano… w-what are you talking about? Haha—ja ne."
And—poof!—she disappeared.
...
"Ehhhhh..."
The glorious members of the Sakuragi gang... were curious as well, and they all turned to the all-knowing Mito. But he feigned innocence, and teleported away from them too. Nozomi kicked a poor, small, random rock nearby.
"Darn it."
"Those two never tell us anything." Ohkusu muttered, before finally walking back to the interior of the gym. Akagi clapped his hand loudly and called the gossipy players in and get back to the game. The game resumed as if nothing happened.
But before Ohkusu and the others could return to their corner of self-pity, they heard demure footsteps come their way. "Why don't they?" It was Haruko.
Nozomi's eyeglasses sparkled (since it wasn't everyday someone asked him an intelligible question) and cleared his throat.
"Those two are the closest. They're childhood friends, they moved in around here at pretty much the same time as well." Ohkusu answered instead and Nozomi soon glared at him. His moment of glory, gone!
"Eh…" Matsui, the girl with the ponytails, scratched her chin in curiosity, and ignored the bespectacled and chubby teenager. "Are they dating?"
Boink
"OI! RUKAWA, concentrate!" Everyone in the sidelines turned.
They didn't see but apparently he was out of it for a moment. Although, he was acting nothing like that though. Some muttered whispers of regret of not seeing him out of it during a basketball game, while some just mused perhaps Akagi imagined things.
But there was one heart that was skipping a beat. Haruko's clenched her chest, as she habitually did when it did so. Rukawa was wearing his normal expression… so there was nothing wrong, right? She mused, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety off and she could only tighten her hold on her own heart.
'Rukawa-kun…' she whispered in anxiety.
But she managed to watch him play like usual, anyway. Just like always.
...
Clink
Clink
CLINK
A RANDOM STREET,
/A few hours later/
She hated basketball? A certain raven-haired boy pondered as he cycled, not hearing the noisy bell-sounds it made.
That wasn't right—that couldn't be right. Someone who disliked the sport wouldn't be able to make such movements back then. He it be that she hated it after they met?
"Could they be dating?" words echoed in his head, along with the other revelations that occurred that day. Those two certainly acted that way.
He frowned. It was none of his business.
And with that thought, Rukawa pushed the unusually disturbing thoughts to the back of his head—though he returned to his senses a little too late. A middle-aged woman with groceries was right on his path. He reflexively turned away.
BAM!
And promptly hit the wall.
"Oh my goodness! Kid...! A-Are you alright?"
He didn't answer the stupid question, why would he be? So he dismissed her anxiety by a slight wave of a hand.
Bam!
It took him a moment to realize the woman freaking flicked his head. "What the hell are you doing daydreaming while on a bike? Going at twenty kilometers per hour, too?!"
He sighed and stood up, holding up his bike. It was still fixable, but it didn't look like it would work for him for a while. He gave the older woman a weathered stare. She kind of reminded her of someone, and without thinking—
"D'aho."
"WHAT?!"
Rukawa may be impertinent but not by this much, especially to an older person his parents' age. He was still Japanese. Sadly, Apologizing simply wasn't in his system. He was the only one with the damaged bike, anyway. "Did you not see me?"
The woman opened her mouth, aghast, no doubt a cornucopia of curses at the back of her head, coming on too fast for her to utter any aloud. She raised her arm to point rudely at him, but this seemed to remind her she had grocery bags (no doubt with eggs) so she decided against going on a fight with a teenage boy.
"HMPH!" she simply harrumphed and walked away. So he pulled it up with a swift motion, and used his hand to manually move it to home. He let out a deep breath, and continued moving. But when he turned to a corner… he heard a very familiar voice.
He paused his steps, turned around, and unconsciously stood behind a random pole.
"Ah! Yuko-basan. I brought your delinquent daughter home." It was Mito Yohei, holding the idiot monkey's hips. She tried fighting him off, but he just pressed a certain spot in her side and she flinched immediately. Rukawa honestly didn't know how he felt about that scene.
"Che!" She exclaimed. "I knew it was a trap. Darn you Yohei."
"Just get in." The old woman with groceries said as she lifted the grocery bag. "I'll cook your favourite food."
The monkey stubbornly looked away. Rukawa shook his head. She obviously liked the idea but for some reason was acting very stubborn.
"Fine. Don't eat then." The old woman said with equal obstinacy. They're probably related, Rukawa concluded with certainty. Obviously, the monkey would not lose. Or so he thought…
"Whatever." She said and stomped to the door. The old woman thanked Yohei and closed the door.
Rukawa stayed there frozen for a few minutes. He even watched as Mito was just standing in front of the guy was chuckling alone like an idiot. "Hanamichi's as stubborn as always." He said to himself, and somehow Rukawa's feet moved revealing himself completely.
Mito flinched. "R-Rukawa?"
"Those two fight a lot?" He asked, nonchalantly, and Mito smiled conservatively.
"Not really my thing to say."
"So I'll assume they do." Rukawa said, and waited for something.
Mito on the other side of the conversation, frowned, Hanamichi was right in calling him a fox. This guy was sly—not that she understood. They just stared at each other until Mito finally let out a sigh of defeat. "Her family always fights—but they never really hate each other. They usually just yell here and there—maybe go physical sometimes—but they make up as if nothing happened. Kinda like children's fights… get it?"
"No."
Mito shrugged. "I said my piece," he said before motioning to pass him. He had a smile on his face that moment—he was waiting for Rukawa to show him something interesting. And that he did.
"Why did she quit basketball?" Rukawa asked. Mito's eyes widened slightly at the unhampered curiosity the supposed stoic rookie gave off. But there was also the fact that he didn't know she used to play.
"You knew she used to play?" he voiced out and Rukawa pursed his lips, just before dipping his head in stoic assent.
"I saw her as a child."
"I see…" Mito nodded, utterly curious, and for a moment he wanted to tell him. "But… it's not my place to tell. Ask her yourself." Mito then pointed at the house. "I don't want you to disturb the mother-daughter moments, though, so you better just call later tonight."
The idea obviously appalled the taller teen. "Wh—No."
"Their number is on the phonebook, so don't worry."
"I would never—" Mito cut him off with a slight wave of the hand.
"Ja ne~"
...
RUKAWA RESIDENCE
It was later that night when Rukawa found himself there—staring at the phone like a total idiot he wasn't. He formulated a plan that wouldn't make him look stupid, but it was still troublesome. Should he really do this? He wondered.
He had to admit that he had always wanted to play with that Idiot. Only her basketball was the good thing about her, he told himself. He was not being buddy-buddy or anything—his eyes twitched at that thought—it was simply understandable for an athlete of his caliber to hope to play with a supposedly formidable opponent.
With that line of thought, he finally dialed a number.
"Hello?"
"D'Aho." Was the first thing he said. For a long second there was silence. She was obviously absorbing who he was, and when she did he was sure he was hearing her gritting her teeth.
"Teme—How the hell did you—"
"Phonebook." He cut her off. "D'Aho."
"What the heck do you want, superbakakitsune?"
"Play a game with me."
"Ha…?" Yes. That was his reaction to himself as well. He wondered what was in his head, especially since he felt that he wanted to say something else.
"W-Why would I?"
"No one knows you play basketball, right?"
"Yohei does."
"But the others don't."
"So?"
"They'll find out."
"You won't dare—" she growled. He didn't answer. It was a taunt, obviously.
"Fine." She finally said. "Tomorrow, 5:45am. Is that fine?" she said that confidently and he sighed. She probably assumed that he wouldn't be able to wake up since he did sleep a lot. But the reason he slept in class was because he woke up early every morning to play.
"Hm."
"…"
"What? You're scared?"
"Hell I am." She said with finality.
"Ja."
"Ja."
Beep
...
"Superbakakitsune."
"D'Ahou."
The first words that morning were exchanged. It was still cold and dark, but at least it was still morning. They were just standing there on the courts under the dawning sky.
But Rukawa still didn't get how her friends (the idiot gang) found out, and it was obvious she was annoyed as well. The all-knowing Mito looked evidently worried though, despite the other three's shameless partying. The monkey started dribbling, but she was obviously reluctant. She started looking as if she was actually thinking—which she barely did.
"There's no point in the match anymore since they're already here."
"Wanna have a bet, then?" he offered, and pointed at her gang. "They do it a lot." Internally, Rukawa cringed at how much he wanted to play with her. He ignored the fact that he wanted to know why she stopped, too.
He frowned. He needed to focus.
"If I win you will follow my orders for a whole week."
A pause.
"Fine." She said, and everyone stiffened. "If I win you will follow mine. Deal?"
"Oi, oi—" Mito intervened. "Don't you think this is unfair? I mean you're handi—"
"Urusai, Yohei." And she smirked pompously like usual, but somehow it seemed forced again. "I don't need to play my best to beat this guy. NYAHAHAHA!"
"Oh! Oh!" Nozomi cackled. "She's arrogant already!"
"First to get 10 points wins."
"Be the referee Yohei."
"O-Okay, but—"
And she cut him off by going in for the attack. This silenced her friends, and it startled Rukawa. She was agile, and extremely swift. Rukawa practically jumped but it was too late.
"2 points."
"Eh, she hadn't gotten rusty at all!" Mito exclaimed and the other three gaped at him in disbelief.
"EH?! She—she used to play? NO WAY."
"How come she hates the sport now?"
"Could she have been dumped because—"
THUMP!
And Ohkusu was on the floor after a ball was thrown right at his face. Hanamichi scoffed. "Hell I was, baka."
"But it was very imaginable, though—GAHAHAH!"
"Yeah, I could imagi—"
"URUSAI." She yelled and whipped her head back to Rukawa, who was wearing that annoying stoic look on his face again. He was looking at her with mocking disappointment.
"That's shallow."
"Like I said, I was not dumped! No guy is good enough to catch my attention idiots!"
"Lesbian?"
"I am not!" she yelled and her eyes twitched when Nozomi scratched his flappy chin.
"I wonder why she's so attached to Haruko-chan, though?"
Noma went in for his theory. "Isn't it because she's unafraid of her?" that made much sense, so they nodded in assent, but still—
"Hanamichi's a lesbie!"
"Nyahhaha.
Mito, on the other hand, smiled. There was one other reason. Hanamichi loved basketball too much as a child, and she didn't have any female friends even before she turned extremely hostile. She was probably making up for what she had lost back then. Mito somewhat wished she and Haruko met earlier.
And then he felt Rukawa glare.
And Mito mentally snickered, knowing full well why he was glaring.
...
Rukawa... Rukawa was annoyed. That guy's knowing look was getting on his nerves, but he willed himself to concentrate on the game. There was no way he'd want to be a slave to this idiot who was laughing arrogantly just because she scored a point.
So he took advantage of her lack of concentration and went in for an atta—
His eyes widened. 'What?' she was already guarding him. It was just a split second! He mentally cursed, throwing the ball backward and caught it with his other hand. He needed to get serious. It wouldn't do to struggle against someone who, as they said, 'hated basketball'. Hell he would.
There was something that shifted in his movements that the Idiot caught, sparking something else in her as well. The casual game quickly turned heated, and Rukawa could feel the familiar burning inside him that happened during a good game. Sometime during their exchange, they forgot they even had an audience.
It was an incredibly quick-paced game and it was more—admittedly—enthralling than he had imagined.
Boink
And she was already dribbling the ball and made a graceful lay-up. Rukawa just stood there in daze, but shook his head away immediately when he saw that smug look on her face.
"This is easier than I thought."
A vein popped on his head, and he went for an even more vehement attack. She upped her guard and they barely even moved a 2-meter radius and they were just trying to get past each other.
And soon their game stretched much longer than they imagined. Her gang certainly looked disbelieving, considering they all had red unblinking eyes. The score was then 6-4, with him losing. He let out a deep breath and used his footing to get past her.
But then, he saw from the corner of his eyes than her hand was already going in for the steal and he froze (again) at her swiftness. He felt her hand make contact with the ball, but then—
Bomp Bomp
Bomp…
The ball was just there on the floor and despite actually stealing it, it seemed like she just let it go. His eyes widened—her arm was literally shaking.
"Hanamichi!" Mito called and Rukawa just stood there. "Are you alright?"
"Of course." She stated and forced to move her hand. There was a deep frown in her face then, and something a lot darker in her usually-fiery orbs. "This is getting boring." She just said, before turning away from him.
"Technically you forfeited. I win."
"Teme—" she frowned and her friends gaped at his coldness. He sighed.
"Just tell me why you quit basketball."
Silence
"Ara? Ara? Could it be that baka-kitsune have a crush on me?" she wore a smug—yet joking—face just for the heck of it, though there was a slight crack in her voice that did Rukawa did not miss. Still, his eyes twitched at the sentence and ignored all the things that it actually hit.
"Urusai." he paused. "D'Aho." But before anyone could argue, he continued with his monotonous voice. "It's annoying that an idiot like you quit playing" He said, pausing, unused to saying so many words at once. "It's uncertain if you look down on basketball or not." He pursed his lips, cerulean eyes never leaving hers. "That's all."
"That's none of your business."
Neither spoke for a while, glaring each other down, hoping the other would back out. Rukawa thought he did not go through all that trouble just to be dismissed like this. "You lost the bet." He finally said, knowing what may get her to agree. "Or are you not noble enough to honor it?"
She flinched at this and she looked at the others. Then the trio suddenly looked quite serious, too. "We want to know, too, Hanamichi. We've been friends for almost three years now…"
Hanamichi frowned, gulped, but was emotionally unequipped to handle this maturely. Instead, she held her head high… and laughed. Awkwardly. "NYAHAHAHA—I must be so awesome for you guys to want to know about my mysterious past so much."
Silence
"D'Aho." Bastard-kitsune cut her off. "It's too obvious that you're forcing it."
"You lost. Accept the consequences." Rukawa repeated, just before adding. "D'Aho."
She looked at all the eyes on her, slowly succumbing to her unfortunate fate. Her shoulder slumped, and she tried to ignore the heaving inside her stomach. "So its fine as long as you find out?"
Rukawa nodded.
"Then Yohei will tell." She said and walked back, making them grimace. "I'm outta here." She said, raising a casual palm in goodbye. "Ja."
Rukawa watched her back, impassive, not showing any hint of remorse or worry that he may or may not be feeling at the moment. His attention was pulled by her gang calling out to her. "Oi—" But Yohei Mito stretched his hand to keep anyone from following her. Rukawa stared him down. The man was really starting to hit more and more of his nerves with that blasted knowing attitude.
"Let her be." He said without flinching. "Please."
"Just say it."
"I'll warn you—It's a pretty dramatic story." He said. "It doesn't really suit a character like her."
Nozomi's eyeglasses shimmer and he held something up. "Tissue?"
BAM!
"OUCH!" Nozomi yelled and glared. "What the hell?!"
"Take this more seriously, will you?"
Someone cleared his throat. And so they mustered all their seriousness and stared at Mito to tell him to speak. The story took about a few minutes, and Ohkusu and Noma were already hugging—crying in the other's shoulders. Nozomi was on the ground after Rukawa kicked him when he tried to hug him. While Mito remained quiet.
"We're taking things slowly now." He said sternly and stepped back from his friends' bucket of snot.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Hanamichi-chan!"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
"*Sniff* Hhuhuhuhuhuhu!"
"Urusai."
"You're so cold Rukawa!"
Nod, nod. "Heartless bastard!"
And they froze under his sudden glare.
"Who cares?" he said, and walked away—cursing a certain idiot with his mind. And when he was out of sight, he felt like punching a random wall with all his strength.
That idiot. That... was not an excuse.
And Rukawa swore to make her overcome her idiocy.
To get revenge and continue their unfinished game, of course.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 4
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 5: Fishing Pole
REPLIES TO ANGELS
mrsklemzak- I am very glad you liked the twists! xD I was scared since I'm changing way too many things on the canon. lol. And, of course, Thank you for the review~!
Mikage Ceres- It's the red head, I think. *cackles* And... a lot of things get associated there. I'll show a few later on. ;) Thank you for the comment, btw~! xD
hitomi65- Thank you for the review~! Happy you thought it was a nice chap. ;D
...
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